We make several mistakes when we try to diet. In general, when a person decides to go on a diet they only have the one goal in mind. “Lose some weight so I can get into my clothes, or maybe because your doctor wants you to lose weight. Those people usually starve themselves to lose and then a few months later gain it all back and sometimes even more.

The other flaw in dieting is that we usually never make any permanent changes. We don’t actually intend on making permanent change or even if we do we pick these diet plans that are impossible to do for the long term because the sacrifice is too much. For Instance, and this one is the most common. We start to skip meals because we know we have to cut calories and this seems to be the easiest way. Big mistake, you have to eat every few hours and you can’t skip eating. The secret is to eat food that will help you lose fat.

Normally, we eat food that puts on fat. Even if you think your eating healthy, you add sauces, gravies, or dressing that create a calories nightmare. Even drinks like a regular soda with your meal will alter your metabolism and you end up storing more sugar and carbs from the food you’re eating.

The only way to successfully slim down and stay slim is to totally change everything you’re doing now.
You want to eat small meals every 3 hours ( 5 per day) starring with breakfast the first hour you’re out of bed and every 3 hours after that. You can never skip a meal and you should eat about the same calories every time (300 to 350 calories). Do not drink your calories, do not eat processed or manufactured food. Salted nuts are not really manufactured but some people do buy raw nuts. Salted nuts are not very good for weight loss because you’re getting too much salt. Keep your portions small (a small hand full).
Do not buy frozen food, do not buy canned foods.

Do eat seafood and white meat poultry. Eat no animal meat except for lean steak (3 oz.) about twice a month. No dairy except non-fat Greek yogurt. I know this sounds very strict. The food pyramid above shows you all your choice. After you’re getting used to the size of your 5 meals you can stop counting calories. Remember to drink the water especially with meals. I’ll say this again, Don’t drink calories. Most dieters are drinking half of their daily calories. This is the big reason that most of us underestimate their calorie intake.

Losing weight is about the food you’re eating. Some foods will cause you to gain weight and some will help you lose weight. If you follow the recommended foods on the food pyramid and avoid the other foods, you will lose weight. But this is not a temporary change in the way you eat. This will be your new meal plan for many years to come.

If you decide to return to prepared foods and bottled or can drinks the weight will return and you’ll start to feel sluggish and the fat will start to accumulate around your waist. Remember you can buy the best foods but it’s about the way you prepare your food that causes you to store body fat.

If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. Read some of my other blog posts.

E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want.

My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.

My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com. If you use the Smashwords’ promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (TL96R). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.

I wrote an entire e-book on this subject but today I want to tell you why. Why losing body fat is important. It’s not unusual that you have gained weight since you left school. Most adults gain more than 20 pounds before their middle 30’s. When you add weight in your adult years most likely your adding body fat. And when you try and lose weight only a little of that weight is body fat.

There’s a big difference between flabby muscles and body fat, but when an adult loses weight it’s normally more flabby muscle than fat. Why is that important? What’s important for good health is your percentage of body fat. When you’re overweight that is a case of a person carrying around too much body fat. And why is that a problem? Because your body has to maintain all body mass, fat, and muscle. In order to maintain all mass, the body has to feed all the mass with blood and in order to do that your body has to grow the network of veins and arteries to bring the blood in the expanded areas. Feeding the expanded areas is hard on the heart and you develop “High Blood Pressure”. If you don’t have high blood pressure now, you will when you get older.

The other health problem in your future is Diabetes. If you’re overweight it’s almost impossible to avoid. So how can I avoid these health problems? You have to fix your diet. Your body fat, your high blood pressure, diabetes, are all from a poor diet. The food you’re eating isn’t giving your body the nutrition it needs. Too much of your food is being turned into fat instead of creating energy.

Another thing is that you don’t have to be overweight to have excess body fat. You can be overweight and don’t know it. I looked up my weight and I found that there is a large acceptable weight category for a person’s height. I’m 6’0″ and the acceptable range was 138 pounds to 178 pounds. If I was in that range for my height I wouldn’t be considered overweight. It’s the extra fat on your body that causes your health problems. How so, you might ask? Because body fat will slow-down normal body functions. Harmful body fat will surround your body organs, putting pressure on those organs and in the case of your Liver, it will cause a condition called “fatty Liver”. You only have one Liver and the Liver is the only organs that safeguards your blood. It filters your blood to keep out sugars and fat, but if the functions are slowed down, saturated fat and sugar will get into the blood stream. Any medications you need to live with the high sugar levels in your blood will probably be permanent. Fix your diet and lose your fat before the changes you make can’t help you.

If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. Read some of my other blog posts.

E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want.

My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.

My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com. If you use the Smashwords’ promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (TL96R). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.

It’s boring, but everything you read today will tell you the best thing for you when you’re trying to lose weight, is water, 64 oz. a day. If you think water is too boring you have problems. Okay, I know you’re rolling your eyes but water is really good for you. And people are catching on. In the last 20 years, the sales of bottled water and designer water out sells soda. And if you’re reading financial papers Coke and Pepsi are worried. They’re scrambling to try to recapture share-of-market. That’s what all retail companies live or die by.

There’s hope for those of us who need flavored water if we are to consume 64 oz. You can make flavored water at home. I like Basil, orange water. It’s what I drink if I crave a salty snack, usually mid-afternoon. The taste kills the cravings and the drink looks beautiful in the glass so I feel like I’m treating myself. You can find recipes for making flavored water on the internet, pick the ones without calories. You can invent your own. My doctor puts slices of cucumber in a pitcher and then cool it down, it’s great.

Also, I like drinking tea. Hot tea has all the antioxidants, for some reason when you make ice tea you lose the antioxidants, I don’t know why; it’s just what I’ve read. There are some good flavored teas out there. I’m not talking about the bottled teas, I mean herbal tea that you can buy loose or in tea bags. If you like regular hot tea, I add cinnamon to change the flavor a little. If you’re going on a strict high-protein diet, hot tea is recommended for all three meals. Besides the antioxidants, hot tea is great for digestion.

Isn’t there something else you might ask. Well, if you want to avoid calories there are sodas with no calories, but you have to watch out for the additives. Additives with a chemical name are probably chemicals and maybe you shouldn’t be consuming chemicals. That said, I’ll explain, many of the prepared foods and drinks use the same or similar chemicals which the government doesn’t take into consideration when they tell us it safe to consume. Depending on what you eat, you could be consuming more than the safe level of a chemical. ‘

Example: Anyone who takes vitamins knows that D’s are really good for you and you should buy the ones with the 3 on the label. The other day I read that you should be taking 1200 IU’s daily, but that 4000 IU’s can be dangerous to your health. I take 2000 IU’s a day, but how much do I get from my food and do you know that you also get “vitamin D” from the sun. So how much am I getting from the sun in an average day? And should I be counting the time in sunlight. All good questions, you can see what I’m talking about. Yes, the chemicals in your diet drink might be safe, but at what point or when will I be consuming too much and how much is too much? No one tells us that. And it’s the same with Vitamin D. Some people say that all the sunlight we need is about 20 minutes a day. And believe it or not, some people don’t get 20 minutes a day and if you’re depending on the sun for your “D”you need the sun every day. That’s probably why your doctor says to take 1200 IU’s a day and some doctors will want you to take even more.

Chemicals in your body get absorbed not passed through. And they do accumulate. And some chemicals do cause cancer and you only have to look at your own family to know someone with cancer or someone who’s had cancer. No one can blame all cancer on smoking or air pollution, most cancer is caused by what we eat.

Be careful of what you eat or drink. It’s your body and the doctor can’t fix everything. Drinking plain water will keep toxins moving through the body and keep them from accumulating.

If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. Read some of my other blog posts.

E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want.

My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.

My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com. If you use the Smashwords’ promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (TL96R). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.

Should I Take Protein Supplements After Exercise?

Ask the experts

This was first blogged on MedicineNet.com

Doctor’s response

Protein is the building block of muscles and essential for repair and growth of muscle after exercise. Whenever you exercise, and particularly during resistance exercise, you cause microscopic damage to the myofibrils of muscle fiber (myofibrils are small protein filaments in the muscle fiber that help the muscle contract). This isn’t the type of damage that you go to the doctor for, but normal biological damage called catabolism. The effect creates a stimulus and environment for muscle repair and growth. The body responds to the damage by sending nutrients, including protein and other growth factors like testosterone, to the muscle to help it grow. And just for the record, and contrary to what many people think, protein is not used by the muscles for fuel unless the circumstances are extreme (for example, starvation). Instead, fat and carbohydrate are the main fuels.

Research shows that protein consumed before exercise and within 30 minutes of finishing your workout will help with growth and recovery. The guideline for protein consumption after exercise is 1 gram for every 3-4 grams of carbohydrate. Peanut butter has 9 grams of protein per 2 tablespoons. Greek Yogurt is another good source of protein. The guidelines for quantity of protein before exercise are not as clear as after, but you can experiment and see if you notice any difference.

You probably won’t notice much difference using protein supplements unless you are malnourished or an elite athlete doing tremendous amounts of aerobic or resistance exercise. That’s because most Americans, including athletes, get enough protein in their diets. Excess protein is not used by the body; instead, it is excreted in urine. The RDA recommendation for protein is 0.8 g/kg in healthy adults. Athletes, pregnant women, and individuals with certain medical conditions may need as much as 1.2-1.7 g/kg. Extra protein intake should be discussed with a doctor or registered dietitian.

Do the following math to calculate your protein needs:

Divide your weight by 2.2 to calculate your weight in kilograms.

Multiply your weight in kilograms by 0.8-1.7 gm/kg (depending on factors mentioned above). Here’s an example if you weigh 200 pounds and consistently do heavy resistance exercise like weight lifting:

200/2.2 = 91 kg 91 kg x 1.4 = 127 grams of protein per day

Again, keep in mind that most Americans get enough protein in their diets. The supplement industry is a multibillion-dollar industry which is unregulated by the federal government. They want to sell you their product and so they will tell you what you want to hear. Unless you really need the extra protein, I recommend saving your money. Buy some exercise equipment instead!

I’ll add my two cents now. After I lost my excess body fat, I was very thin and my doctor wanted me to build more muscle mass and my strength. He recommended a plant based protein powder that I can use to make a protein shake or just mix in my yogurt. I was doing strength training which will leave you sore and the extra protein helps your muscles recoup faster and get over that soreness. The average person with just an average activity level only needs about 60 grams of protein a day and a woman about 50, but add a one-hour workout and now you need about 90 grams. And yes if you’re 200 pounds of muscle that formula is about right, but for regular people, that’s a lot of protein. If you want a low-fat diet eating a lot of animal meat is not a good idea. Twenty percent of your daily protein intake should come from animal meat, the rest from dairy and plant sources and that’s where a supplement like protein powder help you get all you need.

You ought to add up all the protein you eat in a typical day to get some objective data to make decisions with, and then if you have specific nutrition questions related to your protein intake or other nutrients, see a registered dietitian or your doctor.

If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. Read some of my other blog posts.

E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want.

My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.

My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com. If you use the smashwords’ promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (TL96R). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.

I’m talking about up to 30% more calories from certain foods. It works like this: Nutrient-dense foods tend to be more complex. Take proteins, for instance. It takes more energy for your body to digest and use protein than it does for simpler foods like sugars. The effect of eating protein is the highest of all foods. What I mean is after eating protein, your metabolic rate will increase by approximately 30 percent. In other words, if you eat 100 calories of protein, 30 of those will be burned just digesting and using the protein. By comparison, carbohydrates are typically around 10 percent, and fat is just 5 percent.

Proteins are primarily used as our body’s— building blocks. They are most abundant in animal products—lean meats, egg whites, and low-fat cottage cheese are great protein sources. (Protein is also found, to a lesser degree, in beans, nuts, and various grains for you vegetarians out there.) Proteins are found in every cell in our bodies. Our muscles, hair, skin, nails, hormones, and blood all contain protein. And protein is extremely important both to our overall immunity and health.

Protein is also an extremely important (but often overlooked) fat-loss nutrient. Why? Proteins (along with resistance exercise) actually help your body change shape by adding muscle and increasing your metabolism. Remember, the point isn’t just to lose weight. The point is to lose fat, and increase muscle. And why you might ask, it’s your muscle mass that controls your metabolic rate. The rate you burn fat and digest your food. The higher percentage of muscle mass the higher your metabolic rate.

With all this in mind, please be sure to choose grass fed beef, cage-free chicken meat and eggs, and other organic meats whenever possible to avoid hormones and other unnatural additives. Another good reason to be careful when eating out.

With that said, you don’t have to limit your diet to just protein in order to burn belly fat fast. Just don’t eat things that add to your belly fat. Do some research, those people who lose the weight and keep it off, work hard at it. Read anything you can. You can lose weight naturally, no pills or special meals. No extreme workouts or starvation diets. Be active and live healthy, avoid eating snacks or drinking soda or energy drinks and be careful of juice drinks, they can be loaded with sugar. Stick to the basics. You don’t have to starve to lose weight. Just eat better.

Another thing you need to do if you want to lose weight is to count those calories. People say to me all the time, ” But if I just cut back, isn’t that good enough.” And I tell them “No”. Cutting back does help you reduce your intake, but you have to know how much to cut back. You might think your cutting back enough, but unless you’re actually counting how do you know. That brings us to our next question. How much should I be eating? There’s an easy formula to calculate the number of calories you should eat to lose weight. Simply multiply your weight times 12. It’s that easy. Example: I weigh 172 pounds. If I multiply that by 12 it equals 2012. I know that works because my doctors “rule of thumb” is that men should eat about 2000 calories a day, and a woman about 1500. That’s what you need to maintain. Now if you eat more you’ll gain weight but if you eat less than you’ll lose weight.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it. Well, it is pretty simple. The trick is to eat the calories to keep you healthy, and the calories that will help you burn body fat.

If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. Read some of my other blog posts.

E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want.

My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.

My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com. If you use the smashwords’ promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (TL96R). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.

Things that may be draining your energy without you even knowing it.

Sure, we all get draggy from time to time. A sleepless night here and there, a stressful day at the office or one too many doughnuts can take their toll. But when you’re constantly feeling drained, it might be time to look at what’s bringing you down. Check out these energy zappers and see how many apply to you.

Sugar provides quick energy, but after picking you up, it drops you hard and leaves you looking for more, says Debi Silber, MS, RD.

One key to cutting back on sugar is having the right food with you so you don’t head to the nearest vending machine. “The best intentions go out the window when you’re not prepared,” says Florida nutritionist Pamela Smith, RD. Smith tries to make sure she always has healthy snacks on hand, and she advises making sure they contain at least 1 to 2 ounces of protein to keep your blood sugar stable for several hours, combined with a complex carbohydrate to give you a quick boost of energy. Here are a few of her favorites:

Whole grain crackers and low-fat cheese

Fresh fruit or a small box of raisins and low-fat cheese

Half a lean turkey or chicken sandwich

Plain, nonfat yogurt blended with fruit or all-fruit jam

Small pop-top can of water-packed tuna or chicken with whole grain crackers

2. Caffeine

Caffeine can also leave us “tired and wired,” Silber says. “If we need sleep and we choose caffeine instead, we continue to throw off our natural sleep cycle. If you find that too much caffeine — whether it comes in the form of coffee, tea, cola, or even chocolate — is keeping you from getting a good night’s sleep, switch to decaffeinated varieties of your favorite beverage (and cut back on the chocolate), says Joyce A. Walsleben, PhD.

You will get your energy from the food you eat. A poor diet, skipping meals and too many snacks will keep you feeling sluggish. Also carrying around extra fat will also slow you down abd keep you feeling tired.

If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. Read some of my other blog posts.

E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want.

My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.

My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com. If you use the smashwords’ promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (TL96R). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.

Too much sugar makes you gain weight and can harm your health. And you have to be especially careful about how much sugar you eat if you have diabetes.

The American Heart Association advises:

Not adding table sugar, syrup or honey to cereal, coffee, tea or pancakes. If you must add sugar, add half the usual amount.

Drinking more water and avoiding soda. Opt for sugar-free drinks.

Eating canned fruit in water, instead of sugar-laden syrup.

Reducing sugar in recipes by at least one-third. Or instead of sugar, using extracts such as lemon, almond or vanilla.

Using unsweetened applesauce in place of sugar.

When an adult adds weight to their body they’re adding fat. It’s so easy to add fat and you don’t even realize it. For instance, if you’re eating a well-balanced meal and then decide to drink a coke with your dinner, the sugary drink will slow down your metabolism and you will only burn the carbs in your meal and will store more of the fat in the food you’re eating. You have to help your body metabolize your food and drinking water or plain tea is the best way.

If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. Read some of my other blog posts.

E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want.

My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.

My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com. If you use the smashwords’ promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (TL96R). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.